McCain, health care, the GOP, and overplaying the hand redux

In the aftermath of the health care bill, as I’ve said before, we’ve seen the right wing absolutely lose their shit (to use the clinical term). Threatening to get the Supreme Court to overturn it, to have states sue the federal government, secession, the works. However, nothing better encapsulates the attitude than this John McCain quote.

“There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year,” McCain said during an interview Monday on an Arizona radio affiliate. “They have poisoned the well in what they’ve done and how they’ve done it.”

If I were a Congressional Democrat, I’d just start laughing. What cooperation are they threatening to discontinue? After a year and a half of fighting to get the health care bill torn asunder and crippled, they still voted against in a single bloc. Remember when Eric Cantor bragged about total Republican opposition to the stimulus package with an Aerosmith soundtrack? Or how about the record number of cloture votes in the current Congress?

A little while back I talked about overplaying one’s hand, basically explaining that their constant obstruction might have worked well in the short term, but down the road it would screw them over. Now this is why.

Simply put, the Republicans have no weapons left. By voting 100% against all major legislation and filibustering everything they could from the beginning, they’ve got nothing else in their arsenal now that they failed to stop health care reform. They weren’t cooperating to begin with, so now what are they going to do? Imagine a small child who refuses to eat his vegetables, screaming and thrashing at every meal. Finally you hold him down and force him to eat some broccoli, after which he says “I’m not gonna be so cooperative any more.” Oh yeah? How?

This victory wasn’t just about health care, it was also about popping through the barriers that Republicans have put in front of everything. The 2010 midterms are off to a fantastic start.